Durgerdam and View of Pampus

Which Dutch person does not know the expression 'lying in front of Pampus', being exhausted by eating or drinking a lot. Or just lying around lazily. From Durgerdam you can see the island of Pampus that lies right off the coast. This used to be a sandbank. Full ships would lie there for a while waiting for the tide to come in and they could pass the sandbank. So they were literally lying in front of Pampus. You can see all this from the Durgerdam dike. The dike was built in the early 1400s to protect the land from the storms on the Zuiderzee. The houses are therefore safely located just behind it. In the 17th century, the inhabitants mainly worked in shipping, but when that declined a century later, they turned to (herring) fishing. That too came to an end when the Afsluitdijk was built in 1932 and the Zuiderzee became the IJsselmeer. Now it is a protected village view. In the bend of the dike lies a square building called the 'chapel'. But it is not religious. It has had very different functions and is now a residential house. It was built in 1687 after Durgerdam was almost completely burned down in a fire. Amsterdam felt so sorry for the neighboring village that it collected money through a lottery (so even then). The chapel was built from the proceeds. With a beautiful view over the water.

On our bike tour we were surprised at how beautiful and idyllic it is here. Green meadows, small, well-kept historic houses, boats and beautiful paths. Absolutely recommended!

It is very special: via the Schellingwouderbrug you cycle away from pre-war Amsterdam and on the other side is a vast peat meadow area with beautiful villages such as Durgerdam, Ransdorp and Holysloot. These villages, together with the surrounding meadows, are part of rural North.The area joined Amsterdam in 1921, partly to give the city a green edge. The villages cooperated in the annexation because they did not have the resources to repair the damage caused by the flood in 1916.Under Amsterdam's care, the area has been quite successful in keeping its character. Durgerdam is located on the dike that was constructed after the floods during the Sint Elizabeths flood in 1421.The hamlet of IJdoorn, which was approximately on the location of the current lighthouse island, disappeared into the waves during this disaster. Durgerdam has a protected villagescape. Characteristic is that, like elsewhere in Waterland, many houses are largely made of wood.This makes the houses less heavy and can be better supported by the marshy soil. The wooden houses in Waterland are painted in the colors of the 'Waterland palette': shades of green, white, yellow, gray, blue and red-brown. Each village has its own predominant colors.